The greasy arm of the law

Well, it had to be expected didn't it. Italian justice and real justice seldom mix in the same circles. After the biggest match-fixing scandal in Italian and possibly European football, a controversial World Cup win softened the hearts of Italian magistrates and the hardness of the prosecution's outlook was dissipated. Juventus were stripped of their two league titles of the last two years and sent down to Serie B (though the prosecution had argued for Serie C) as were Fiorentina and Lazio, all with pre-emptive heavy points deductions. AC Milan remained in Serie A (against the wishes of the prosecution but with a 17-point starting penalty for the current season and a 30-point penalty for the previous season). While there were whimperings from journalists with vested interests - "what did the fans do to deserve this" (nothing but their teams benefitted from deliberately dodgy refereeing) and AC Milan squirmed to try and make the UEFA Cup, saying that the lowest ranked team from Serie A now in the UEFA Cup did not have a Euro-worthy ground, many around the world thought the punishment of the guilty four was too lenient. However, it was tough enough to not be too heavily criticised.
But then came the appeals. AC Milan had it's seventeen point penalty cut to eight points and was allowed to qualify for the Champions League - no more talk of the UEFA Cup from the club owned by the richest man in Italy. Fiorentina and Lazio were allowed to remain in Serie A but with heavy points slashed off their start to the season and Juventus had it's points penalty also cut.
Now, we have the appeals' appeals (huh?). AC Milan's punishment remained unchanged, but all the other three clubs have their points penalties reduced even further. The original judgement in July was queasy in how it let sentimentality creeep into its verdict. But this? It's almost as big a scandal as the one it presided over in court. The Italian body politic is rotten to the core, but it seems the cheating in its football doesn't just occur on the pitch. Of course, the authorities don't care - they have lakes of chutzpah. Even the crooked football directors got light jail sentences. If there is any justice in the world of football, UEFA should shun the bid from Italy for Euro 2012, even if the pitches in Eastern Europe aren't as good nor the facilities so sparkling. UEFA officials should put up with a bit of roughage - it's good for the soul.
UEFA's already doing pretty well against the G-14 of the biggest clubs in Europe. G-14 are hypocrites and law fiddlers as big as any found in Italy. Some while ago in the last twelve months, I read the rules of membership for this elite club of 18 members. One of the stipulations was that if a member were relegated, it's immediate expulsion would follow and re-admittance following any subsequent promotion would be considered by the other members. Now, when I access its website, it provides me with minimal information and outsize format with no scroll tabs. The BBC says Juventus is still a member of G-14. But Juventus were relegated. It's bye-bye surely to the Old Lady from G-14? No, because the members were so cocksure that none of their clients would get relegated (bit hairy inviting in Bayer Leverkusen, then) that the possibility was never considered. Now it's been made fact, they've obfuscated and kept Juve in. It was a big mistake to keep Chelsea out. The wealthiest club in the world not in the G-14, is a snub Chelsea were never going to take. And now in co-operation with UEFA they're dividing and conquering , bringing Barcelona and Ajax and several others into open confrotnation with the body supposed to guarantee their interests. If you can't flush the scum out of Italian football, at least the destruction of G-14 will go some way to keeping European football pure.